


holding onto now

by seatbeltdrivein



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Community: fmagiftexchange, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-14
Updated: 2011-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-16 23:38:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seatbeltdrivein/pseuds/seatbeltdrivein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ed deals with the here and now in his own way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	holding onto now

It was the fear that stuck with him. Some nights, Ed would wake up in his bed, arms still flailing and terror written plainly on his face, only to find that he was here and not there. At twenty-five, he would think wryly, settling back into the sweat-drenched bedding, one would expect him to be over those nightmares.

Usually, he would creep out to the front porch, mindful of Den resting just in front of the door, and watch the stars. He'd tell himself, just a few more minutes of this, then I'll go back to sleep – but day would always find him too quickly. How hours could seem like minutes, he never quite understood.

But tonight, Winry reaches out to him before he can get his feet on the ground. She rolls over, frowning, bleary-eyed, and asks him where he's going.

He tells her he needs a drink, and when the lines on her forehead deepen, he knows she's spotted his lie.

She doesn't tell him to stay. She doesn't get angry. Winry pushes the sheets off and sits up, crawling over to his side of the bed and stretching her legs down, toes curling when her feet touch cool wood.

I was thinking coffee, she says. She's blinking over and over, sleep pulling her lashes down, resistant.

He wants to tell her to go back to sleep, that she shouldn't waste the time on him. But then he remembers his mother staring out the kitchen window, that sad half-smile she wore like a badge for the man she'd wasted her life on, and Ed finds himself saying, I'll make some, and holding out his hand.

When she laughs at him and tells him his coffee is always crap, that she'd sooner drink mud, he locks that smile away in his memory, something to recall when the nights get too dark.

She takes his hand and leads the way.


End file.
